What are we doing here?
by dead account number99999999999
Summary: At this point I am almost certainly not going to continue this, so if anyone comes across it just move on. don't know if anyone liked this, but if you did then sorry /
1. Beginnings

Prologue - ?

"Damn it, where the hell do I go now!?" the man cursed, after realising he'd run right into a dead end. There was nowhere to run to, and no longer anywhere to hide. Quickly he grabbed his last pokeball and turned around, desperately hoping the other guys had softened the bastard up enough for him to take him on. He was about to throw it, when suddenly he felt a icy chill behind his head. He barely managed to avoid the ice beam shot at him from god knows where, but in the process he dropped the ball, and it rolled away from him, until it collided with a pair of legs.

A hand reached down from above and picked up the pokeball. The man desperately tried to think of some way to get his Pokémon back. nothing came to him. He looked over his shoulder, trying not to focus on the dark shape advancing slowly towards him. Behind him was a cliff, a 50 foot drop into the icy, black water below. "M...maybe i can survive!" he said desperately, "yes, I…I've got to, its my only chance to...!" the man felt a vice-like grip tighten around his collar. The dark figure had caught him. Within seconds he was dangling above the cliff, with only the hand on his collar between him and the cold death awaiting him below.

The man, near paralysed with terror, just barely managed to open his eyes to look into the face of the figure. He was met with a pair of cold, blue eyes; unblinking, focused, and filled with a quiet fury. "Wh...who the hell are you!" the man screamed. Unflinching, the eyes continued to stare into him with such iciness as to make the water below seem almost a pleasant escape. Finally, after a few seconds that lasted an eternity, the man heard a calm, almost serene voice from the other man standing before him.

"my name is...".

chapter 1 - pallet town

"Viridis, John Viridis" said the blue eyed young boy, "I'm here for my first Pokémon" he added proudly. The old man, known as professor Samuel Oak, pointed his eyes in the youth's direction, barely managing to focus on him. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" he said wearily, "even the Dodrio are still asleep, you should have come by later". John was taken aback, the idea that the professor would be so disgruntled by his early arrival had never crossed his mind until now, and he was quickly realising that that would have been anyone else's first thought. "Well, um, you see I… well I just...just thought, uh..." he stammered "i was just so... exited to, uh, go away on my, um, journey so I..." "alright, alright" the professor interrupted, "just come inside, it must be freezing out there". "Thank you" the boy just managed to get out, "and I'm…sorry".

The professor led the youth inside his lab, and told him to wait for him to "prepare a few things", by which he meant that he was going to "prepare" enough coffee to wake up a comatose Snorlax. John, unsure of what to do, look around at some of the equipment in the professors lab. while he couldn't explain how they worked, John could probably have named and given the function of every piece of equipment in the lab if you'd asked him to, thanks to the research he had done to prepare for his journey, so he felt confident in taking a closer look at some of the more interesting machines in the professors possession. Being careful not to touch, he walked over to a large, cylindrical machine in the corner. The outside of the cylinder was covered completely in knobs, dials and screens, but the inside was made almost entirely of a smooth, reflective surface. It appeared to be a machine for testing the energies released by Pokémon during evolution, but it was covered in dust and clearly hadn't been used much in spite the fact that, along with most of the equipment, it was clearly an older model. John decided to take a closer look at the inside, and was greeted with his warped reflection. He was able to make out his short, dark brown hair, pale skin, blue eyes, dark green jacket, and his glasses, but other than that the image was too fuzzy and heavily distorted to make out much. He took a step back, and collided a table, sending several pieces of glass equipment and their contents tumbling to their doom. Professor Oak later sarcastically said that, in fairness, he had no idea that certain components Beedrill and Butterfree foods could be mixed together to make a somewhat foul-smelling gas, so the accident had taught him something.

After all the glass and liquids has been disposed of, and John had finished apologising, professor Oak took him over to where the three Pokémon were and asked him to make a selection. "What's that one?" John said, noticing a fourth pokeball with a lightning ball engraved on it next to the other 3. "Um...lets not worry about that one" the professor mumbled, sweating slightly. John took a look at the 3 pokeballs, he knew that Bulbasaur was generally considered the easiest to use, not to mention that it had a type advantage over several of the nearest gyms, but for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he decided not to go with the logical choice, and instead his eyes were drawn towards the pokeball to the right of Bulbasaur's. "i choose...Charmander!" he exclaimed while picking up the pokeball. Oak smiled as he handed the boy a pokedex and some pokeballs, despite how the boy had ruined his sleep and his morning, it was always a joy to see a rookie trainer Taking their first step into a brand new world. That was when the first professor noticed, "you look... rather old to be getting your first Pokémon" he said, "you cant be younger that 12 at least". "14" John sighed, somewhat self conscious of how young he looked for his age, "I… wasn't interested back when they gave us all the chance to take a year out of school to go on a Pokémon journey back when i was 10", "change your mind did you?" asked the professor, who didn't think the boy was being entirely honest. "Well I never really had..." john stopped, searching for the words. "Its fine" Oak said sympathetically, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to", though he was disappointed given how little he knew about the boy. "Thank you" john said, smiling for the first time since he had entered the lab. John decided to try out the pokedex quickly by searching up Sneasel, a Pokémon he had seen years ago, and looked confused when it came up with no data. "That pokedex is an older model" professor Oak said, slightly embarrassed, "it only contains Pokémon that are native to kanto". John thought to himself that, for a man dedicated to learning new things about Pokémon, the professor seemed rather unconcerned about having the proper tools to do that with, but he knew he should keep thoughts like that to himself.

John thanked the professor and turned around to leave. "wait! don't you want to meet your new Pokémon?" the professor asked. John froze, but luckily he had anticipated this question so he quickly turned around, puffed out his chest, and gave his rehearsed response "I think it would be best if we met one on one, to put as little pressure on the little guy as possible; a good idea don't you think?". The professor wasn't convinced, but he thought it would be unkind to force an honest answer, so he simply gave a nod and waved the boy off, telling him to call when he reached viridian city. "That... might not be possible" said the boy cryptically, "but, I… I will try to when I reach pewter". Once he had left, the professor leaned back against a wall, bewildered by the encounter he had just had. He had been surprised when, 3 weeks ago, a boy he had never heard of before had, out of the blue, registered to receive a starter Pokémon from his lab; pallet was the kind of town where everyone tended to know everyone else, and people usually registered months in advance at least. The boy might have come from elsewhere, viridian city maybe?

_More exited by a pokedex than his first Pokémon?_ the professor mused, _what an odd boy_. His internal monologue was interrupted by a small parade following a car driven by a spikey hared boy, and cheers of "Gary! Gary! Gary!".

* * *

**so just a few notes. this story is supposed to be concurrent to the anime and since the anime version of kanto is, geographically, incompatible with the one from the games, I'm a map made by user ccaccus on . I tried to post a link but it wouldn't let me for some reason. an earlier version of this chapter linked to a different map, but I have since decided I no longer entirely agree with that one.**

**I have written up to the 9th chapter as of now, but I'm holding off on posting any of them until I've gone over them a second time, and until I get some feedback for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, but please tell me what I did wrong, as I'm sure there's a lot I could improve on. thank you for reading. **


	2. Small steps

Chapter 2 - Route 1

John would have preferred to leave pallet town via the southern exit rather than the north, but unfortunately the only way to do that was via boat, and john didn't have the money on him to pay for that. And unfortunately there was no other reliable route to get to pewter that wouldn't risk his food rations running out, so he had resigned himself to going back through route 1 and then to head through viridian. On the upside, walking through the open, empty grassland of route 1 did wonders for his mood, especially after the state of mind his disastrous encounter with the professor had left him in. The gentle blowing of the wind and the occasional song of the Pidgey were the only intruders upon his solitude. He smiled gently as he took in the scent of the air; more moments like this were certainly something to look forward to in his coming adventure.

Despite his good mood, all the miles of walking between brief meals did eventually make him somewhat regret not paying for a return trip on the bus to pallet, and his hunger for some more substantial food eventually forced him to stop and find a place to set up camp. He had wanted to get back to viridian as soon as possible, but there was simply no way he would reach route 2 before nightfall, even if he had been capable of continuing, and if there hadn't been a storm forecast later. He found a solitary spot in the shade of the woods beside the main road, but before he set up his tent there was one thing he needed to do, and he had run out of excuses to procrastinate on the task any further. John reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white and red ball with a button on its surface. He pressed the button and the ball grew to fill his hand. John stared at the ball and gave a deep breath, before he threw it towards the ground.

On contact, the ball split down the middle and a brilliant white beam of light shot out of the ball and gathered right in front of john. The light took shape, and then began to fade, slowly getting dimmer until it resolved itself into the shape of a small, orange, bipedal lizard-like creature with a small yellow-orange flame burning upon the end of its tail. The creature opened its eyes slightly to adjust to the light, then they shot open, as it frantically looked around, bewildered by its new environment. It then noticed the two legs right in front of it, and looked up into johns blue eyes.

John fought off the urge to shrink under the Charmander's gaze, and folded his arms and puffed his chest out to try to seem confident. "Greetings, little one" he said, "my name is John, and from now on, I shall be your new trainer, a pleasure to meet you". the Charmander's eyes widened, though it somehow didn't look horrified or shocked to John. There was a few seconds of complete silence as the Pokémon continued to stare at John, who kept his eyes on the creatures as well in an attempt to fight off how foolish we was feeling. He was contemplating voicing another thought, when a huge smile suddenly grew upon the Charmander's face as it leapt up at John, its arms outstretched. In his panicked state, John failed to move forward to catch the airborne Pokémon, causing it to fall flat on its face in the grass below . John immediately knelt down next to the fallen Pokémon, "I'm so sorry! I should have caught you, I just wasn't expecting, um, for you to jump up so..." John trailed off, his rambling ceasing. Charmander was clearly still hurt, and not just physically, but it gave John a half smile and reached out its hand for him. John stared at the palm, wanting to take it, but somehow unable to. John was telling himself to stop worrying and just take its hand, when the Pokémon sighed sadly and got up by itself, saving him the task. _well there goes that attempt at a good first impression_, thought John, cursing himself. "yes, ah, well, um, now then" John rambled "now that introductions are, um, in order, Charmander, we should..." the Charmander shook its head upon hearing its own name, looking almost disgusted by the sound of it. "do you...not like your name?" John suggested, the Charmander nodded its head, happy the boy had understood quickly. "well um, okay, if you want a new one, how about...Charlie?" John instantly regretted saying it, an infinite number of possible names, and Charlie is the best you can come up with? that is seriously the ultimate extent of your creativity? Charmander was secretly hoping for something cooler, or at least significantly more creative, but it nodded approvingly anyway, happy the boy had at least made an attempt. well, no accounting for taste I suppose, thought john. "so Charm... _Charlie_, would you please help me by gathering wood for a fire?"

The next few hours went by rather uneventful, except for John realising that the countless instructional videos he had viewed on how to erect a tent severely understated the malicious nature of tent poles towards humans. The two of them hardly interacted at all in that time. Charlie kept looking up hopefully at John every time he brought a new log, but he way as well have stared at a rock for all the acknowledgement he got. at one point, Charlie saw a large flock of Spearow in the distance and tried excitedly to point them out to his trainer, only to receive a response of "I'm sorry, but not now Charlie, I need to focus" as John continued to attempt to start a fire. despite his better nature, Charlie couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction at John burying his face in his palms after he used ember on the logs.

"Careful, its hot" said John, spooning out some of the soup into Charlie's bowl, who was sitting on the opposite side of the fire to him. the two ate in silence, Charlie no longer attempting to engage with john. Charlie looked over to john over the top of his bowl. he was at a loss, he wanted desperately to try and reach out to his new trainer, but despite his best efforts to the contrary, he could no longer ignore the bitter sense of disappointment at how aloof the boy was. he had been so looking forward to this day, ever since the professor had told him six months ago that, at long last, it was finally his time to be chosen by a new trainer; to go out in the world, battle strong Pokémon, to assist his trainer, to make some friends, and to one day achieve his dream of becoming a Charizard and soaring high into the air just like his parents and, well, other Charizard. So far he had fallen flat on his face, been made to collect fire wood, and been just about ignored by the human who was supposed to be his new "best friend". He hoped this was just one of those things that got worse before it got better.

After dinner, the two packed up quickly and retreated to the tent, narrowly avoiding the storm. Later, when they both should have been asleep, John looked down at Charlie's Pokeball. He thought back to the quiet dinner they had just eaten, and how desperately he had wanted to just say anything to Charlie, but just couldn't. He sighed, feeling like just about the lousiest new trainer of all time; he knew just about every move Charlie could ever possibly know, and could casually name Pokémon most people from this region had never even heard of, but he couldn't do the simple task of just talking to the one he was supposed to be raising. he didn't dislike Pokémon, he was even fine with most of the large and intimidating ones that scared most adults away. Its just that, if he was honest, going on this journey was always less about the chance to become a trainer or battle and catch Pokémon, or even just to explore the world. It had mainly been just...an excuse. An excuse to run; to get away, even just for a while, and not about where he was going. And at the time all that effort had seemed worth it. Now he wasn't so sure; now he felt like some reckless kid who had just leapt into this without really understanding what he was getting into. He tried to shake those thoughts out of his head, but they just wouldn't go, so he lay down his head, hoping a good night of sleep would cleanse these ideas out of his mind by the morning. John curled up in his sleeping bag, attempting to drift off in spite of the relentless pitter-patter on the tent roof and the whipping of the wind threatening to tear the tent from the ground. before he finally drifted off, his mind was consumed by a single idea, a worry that summed up everything he had been feeling throughout the whole day.

_What am I doing here?_

* * *

Hopefully this turned out better than the last chapter, I made much more significant changes from the first draft compared to that one.


	3. My new team

Chapter 3 - Continuing through route 1

Darkness, nothing but darkness everywhere he could see; an endless black void surrounded him entirely. "This again..." said John. Suddenly he was back in his tent, struggling to keep his eyes open, "I guess _you'll_ never leave me alone will you? even after all these years". Miraculously, the tend had withstood the wind and the rain; John had been half expecting to find himself blown into someone's garden and having to explain how he got there before they called the police. He put on his backpack and stepped outside to find the sky was clear and the sun was low. He breathed in, and then exhaled. He looked out at the surroundings, the nearby fields were bathed in the glow of the early morning sun, a beautiful orange-red colour complimenting the deep greens of the grassland and woods. In the sky he could see huge flocks of Pidgey, Pigeotto, and even a few Pigeot silently soaring overhead. John smiled, the surroundings calming his mood again, providing him with some peace after the torrent that his mind had been ever since he first met his new Pokémon, even if just for a few seconds. *Rustle* something disturbed the silence, he turned around to try and locate the intruder, and just within the trees he could see a small, floating ball, about the size of a football. He knew it had to be a Pokémon, but there were no Pokémon that looked like that living on route 1, were there? "Char?" John turned around to see Charlie standing next to him with a quizzical head tilt, apparently having released itself from its own pokeball. "follow me", he said. The two inched closer to get a clearer view, his eyes widened upon realising what he was seeing. _No way!_, he thought,_ it cant be!_ he pulled out his pokedex, Charlie leaned over to see the screen.

**Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon. Koffing hovers in the air, thanks to the poisonous gases it contains, which have a foul odour and can explode. A pure poison type Pokémon which evolves into weezing upon reaching level 35, high physical defence.**

Charlie backed away slightly at the mention of exploding gasses. Surely pollution cant be bad enough for a Koffing to live around these parts? John thought to himself. It was then that he decided; he was going to catch that koffing, Charlie alone wouldn't get him through kanto after all. "Come on Charlie", said John as he turned to his Pokémon, "I'm going to catch that koffing". Charlie remained somewhat hesitant, but his mood certainly improved at the news that this would be his first real battle. Charlie was about to go over to the koffing, but after taking one step, he turned around to give John an expectant look. "what is it?", John inquired, Charlie moved his head closer to john and slightly widened his eyes. "what...", began John before realisation dawned on him, "oh! um, I'm counting on you charm... Charlie" John weakly said. Good enough I guess, thought Charlie as he sighed to himself, before leaping out of the bushes to face his opponent. "Okay Charlie, scratch!", John commanded, mindful of the explosive gasses released by Koffing. Charlie immediately jumped up and bared its claws at the poison Pokémon floating before it, catching it by surprise and landing a direct hit. Koffing quickly tried to retaliate with a poison gas attack, but Charlie nimbly dodged backwards, it tried a second time, but Charlie was too far away, and the attack dissipated before it even reached him. So this one only has short range gas? excellent! "now, hit it with ember!". "Char!?" Charlie cried in response, as it turned away from Koffing towards John, "come on what's the...", he began, when suddenly Charlie's eyes were covered by a thick black substance. Koffing had taken advantage of Charlie's immobility to fire sludge into its face, forcing Charlie to shut its eyes tight. Charlie flailed about, trying desperately to rub the liquid off its face to no avail. "Charlie, uh, quick use, um, retreat!" john managed to command, Charlie ran towards him, shaking his head vigorously as he moved. Koffing gave what was probably the closest thing to a shrug it was capable of, and then floated off.

John turned to Charlie "what the heck was..."john began, but he trailed off when he saw how much Charlie was shaking. _I know he was scared of the gas exploding_, john thought, _but I saw how short that koffing's range was and there's no it_ _would have hit him if the gas had gone up. He should have known I would never... oh_. How could he possibly have been so stupid. if another trainer had taken Charlie, he would have gladly used ember right then; he would have trusted that his trainer wouldn't have put him in harms way. But john was not another trainer; he had practically acted as if Charlie didn't exist except when he had to or when it was convenient for him, how the hell was Charlie supposed to know weather or not he cared if he would have been hurt? Crestfallen, john gently picked up Charlie and began carefully cleaning his face with a cloth he dampened with his drinking water. Charlie looked up at john straight into his eyes, and John forced himself not to flinch away. "I'm sorry" he admitted, "I want you to know there's no way that gas could have hurt you, but I suppose I cant expect you to trust me when I haven't been willing to offer it myself. I wasn't trying to ignore you, I want to be friends but, I just don't know..." tears began to well up in his eyes, prompting Charlie to reach up to try and wipe them away. "Thank you", said john, "I don't deserve a Pokémon like you, I'm a failure as a trainer". Charlie, having no clue at how to respond to john's sudden outburst, simply wrapped his arms around johns arm. john wrapped the arm around Charlie and held him close. John reached up to try and stem further tears threatening to form under his glasses, then suddenly stood straight up to Charlie's bewilderment. "Come on, I have a plan", he ran after koffing, all the while still cradling Charlie in his arms.

He set Charlie down atop a small ledge looking down at the koffing. "Wait and watch" John said with a mischievous grin upon his lips. He took a dirty bowl from the day before out of a plastic bag in his backpack, picked up a small pebble, and advanced upon the koffing. "Hey sludge ball, get a piece of this!" he declared, chucking the pebble at the Koffing, prompting it to angrily turn around to face him. John took care to stand outside the range of koffings gas as he stared it down. what the heck is he..., thought Charlie, until horror took him over upon witnessing John being sprayed from head to toe in sludge from the koffing. In panic, Charlie slid down the ledge and began to run towards him. John then removed his glasses and grinned, he chucked the bowl he had been holding straight into the koffings face, covering its eyes in its own sludge. Koffing flailed about, unable to see its two opponents to aim an attack. "hey!" john yelled, snapping charlie out of his baffled state, "want to have a turn?" he said grinning down at him. Charlie stood still, staring into Johns face for a moment, before grinning himself, and shooting a small steam of fire directly at the poison type, who was powerless to avoid the attack. The flames wrapped around the body of the koffing, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud. John quickly threw a pokeball straight at the koffing, causing it to disappear in a flash of red light. 1...2...3...click! The pokeball ceased shaking and lay dormant. John looked blankly at the ball as he moved over to it and picked it up. he stared back at Charlie, who ran up to john and jumped straight at him. This time, John quickly dropped the pokeball and caught Charlie in his arms and embraced him as the two let out a cheer, loud enough to awaken an abra. "We did it! we did it! we did it!" "char! man! der!", Koffing, who had been released when his pokeball hit the ground, looked up at the duo before him, and gave an invisible smile. "Welcome to the team Koffing!" said john as he noticed he had accidentally sent out his new team mate. koffing gave a nod of approval, before letting out a snigger. "what are you laughing...", began John before he looked down at himself. He was completely covered in black, not a speck of his green coat visible beneath. He was very thankful that Koffing's sludge came without the odour of its gas. At the sight, Charlie too began to giggle. "Well it doesn't look much better on the two of you" responded john dryly, shutting the two up, before all three broke down in laughter.

Once the trio had recovered, John called them both to attention. "Well, we need to get going. we've had no breakfast, and even though I'm convinced that tent is possessed, it sure wont put itself away, so off we go!" The three of them walked back to them campsite, eager to clean themselves off a soon as possible. As they were walking, Charlie looked up at John, thinking back to how dramatic a change this day had brought to their relationship. _Maybe he isn't so bad_, mused Charlie to himself, he looked up to the sky and watched as a Fearow flew over the forest and smiled to himself, pe_rhaps I will find what I've been looking for after all_. His thoughts were cut off as John rushed forward at an Oddish he had seen before him.

Two meals, and several hours of walking later, a small gate came into view over the top of a small hill. Charlie was about to continue onwards, when john stopped him. "I'm sorry, but I need you to get back into your ball" john said simply. Charlie turned towards him to protest, but stopped when john looked him dead in the eyes. "please", said john, "I don't have a choice". Charlie paused for a moment, then nodded. John smiled, "thank you", he said as he pressed the button on Charlie's pokeball, causing him to disappear in a flash of red light. John looked over at the skyline of the city before him, he breathed in and out deeply to steady himself. He raised his hood, and marched onwards towards the city.

* * *

**next time, john does some things and possibly fights the police.**

**I don't know, its like 11pm, you write better notes.**


	4. Strangers

Chapter 4 - viridian city

"... and remember to stay on the lookout for anyone suspicious!", the tinny sound of the citywide tannoy echoed as the announcer, a lone police officer, put down the microphone. she leaned back in her chair, preparing herself for the long chore ahead of her. despite the news that poachers were apparently in the area, the last few days had been no different to any of the last few mind-numbing weeks she'd spent at this shabby little station. I suppose it serves me right for getting posted at the edge of town, she mused to herself. she was about to start some paperwork that she really should have done by now, when she saw a figure in the corner of her eye. she looked up to see a kid of about 13 in a dirty green coat entering the city. he wasn't quite running, but he was obviously in a hurry. "well if it gives me something to do...", she got up and walked over to the stranger, who almost ran into her until he noticed her feet and stepped back in alarm. "y... yes?" he said, she could tell he was male now, he seemed to be in quite a panic at the sight of her, which made her even more suspicious than before. "Now just where do you think you're going" she asked in a calm, but commanding tone. "I… I'm on my, um, way to... the Pokémon centre! yes I, um, I'm a trainer from pallet town". his stammered response struck her as rather unconvincing, but she knew an easy way to resolve the issue. "may I see your identification?" she asked. at this, the boy looked up at her incredulously, "you do know I'm, like, 13 right?". okay, fair enough, she thought. "if you received a pokedex you can use it to..." she trailed off as she looked closer at the face of the boy before her. a horrified look appeared on his face as he realised what he had done. he quickly looked down to cover up, but it was too late; there was no way she could fail to recognise that face, not when several walls nearby were practically gift-wrapped with his "missing child" posters. "its you!" she cried, quickly moving closer to him, "what were you thinking, scaring your parents like that? you're coming with..." "SLEEP POWDER, NOW!" he cried as a blinding white flash was released in her face. "wha..." but before she could finish, a blanket of drowsiness descended on her, and she quickly lost all strength in her legs and collapsed against the station wall. "no, don't…", but the boy had already returned his Pokémon, and was running as quickly as he could away from her crumpled form. his retreating back was the last thing she saw before blackness overcame her.

sometime later, the officer awoke, dazed and confused. "what am I…, no, don't tell me I fell asleep on the job! and on the ground too!", she checked her watch, she had only started her shift an hour ago, so thankfully she hadn't been out that long. she tried to remember what she had been doing before she fell asleep, hoping she hadn't missed anything important. she remembered a boy, who had said he was from pallet, and then..., but no matter how hard she tried, nothing else came to her. she got up and went back into the station, terrified that someone may have seen her.

john was running as fast as his legs would possibly carry him, ignoring their screams at him to stop and rest. fortunately he had already planned out his route well in advance, and managed to arrive at the red-roofed Pokémon centre before his legs decided to quit or form a union. he stumbled over to the desk, and quickly gave his Pokémon to the confused nurse, before heading off to go and wash his clothes. after this john waked over to one the public telephones, and pulled out a small scrap of paper from his pocket. he switched the phone to sound only mode, and dialled the number on the scrap. after a few seconds he heard a voice coming from the receiver, "ah, so its time is it? when will you arrive to receive your... item", said the voice. "I just need to head through viridian forest, it shouldn't take more than a week" john quietly replied. "excellent!" said the voice, "now just to confirm, how much money did you want on it?", john quickly gave him the amount, "good, then everything is in order, see you in a few days!", the phone call ended, and john put down the receiver. he turned to leave, when he saw a shadow dance in the corner of his eye, and turned to look. there was nothing. I must be seeing things, he thought, I need to get out of here, soon.

before heading over to the food court, john went over to the counter to retrieve his Pokémon. the nurse told him that his Pokémon had been in good condition, and complimented him for how well he had been handling them. john wasn't sure if he agreed, but he thanked her for the words of praise. john was glad the food court was empty, except for a black suited man and a girl in a shabby blue jacket, and doubly thankful that it provided free food. he chose a seat near a window and, sent out his Pokémon, causing the man and the girl to look towards the source of the noise. the food was fairly tasteless on the whole, rather like eating ash in fact, but it was certainly filling after days of nothing but rationed soup and water. john ate quietly as his 3 Pokémon chatted, or that's what john assumed they were doing; they could have been plotting an uprising for all he knew. from what he could tell, Koffing was definitely the most vocal of the group, with the other 2 frequently laughing in response to the noises he made. Oddish seemed rather, well not shy exactly, but she mostly focused on her food, only occasionally perking up to become more involved in the conversation. Charlie appeared to be somewhat struggling to converse with Koffing, but was also clearly trying as hard as he could. a part of john wished he could understand them, but right now he had to focus on getting out as soon as possible.

after he had finished, he told his Pokémon it was time to set off, Oddish and Koffing tried to protest, but Charlie held off, doubting that john would be in such a rush to leave without good reason. john had just entered the main hall, when a motorcycle burst through the transparent double doors and skidded to a halt right in front of the counter. john realised with a start that the driver was the same police officer from earlier, and quickly ducked into a doorway, and watched from out of sight. a young boy stepped out of the sidecar, cradling a badly injured Pikachu in his arms, it looked like it was barely breathing. johns first thought was how anyone could be stupid enough to let their Pokémon get into that kind of condition, must be a pretty lousy trainer, he said to himself. he watched as two Chansey placed the Pokémon on a stretcher, and took it away for treatment. he waited until the officer left, the nurse took the Pikachu for treatment, and the boy went off to the waiting room. the last thing he noticed before the boy disappeared from view was the look on his face; concern, worry, fear, all carved into his face. john felt somewhat guilty, seeing how torn up the boy was; how much the boy clearly cared for his Pokémon. after all, your first thought was just to get mad at yours for not doing what you wanted, he thought to himself bitterly.

john turned to leave, the situation doing nothing to calm his anxiety. "excuse me?", john near instantly turned around at the sound of the voice. it had come from a girl in blue clothes, "h... how long were you there?" stammered john, the girl gave a small laugh, "sorry, didn't mean to frighten you", she apologised. "by any chance, are you a new trainer from pallet?" she inquired. john paused, then nodded his head, worried where this was going. the girl had tanned skin and light brown hair. she wore a smile on her face, but while it wasn't unnerving, it somehow didn't seem warm either. "I thought so", she said to herself, "my name is leaf, and you are...?", "john, a... a pleasure to make your acquaintance", said john, prompting a raised eyebrow from the girl. "well then, john, I have a feeling we will meet again", she said cryptically, "be seeing you", she walked past him and left the centre. john watched her in bewilderment, and once she had left his view, he bolted out of the Pokémon centre, knocking past the black suited man waiting by the door.

it took john less than an hour to reach the city outskirts, relief overtaking him as the "viridian forest this way" sign finally came into view. he turned to the right and then then the right to look at the vast expanse of forest before him. he had been over the route a good 50 times by this point at least, but he still couldn't shake the niggling feeling that he had somehow gotten something wrong. he was about to continue forward, when out of the corner of his eyes he saw a figure approaching from behind. with a shock, he realised it was the same dark suited man from the centre. john leaned against a bush next to the pavement, and waited for a good minute at least. the man didn't pass him. john got up and continued forwards for a while, then stopped, pretending to be tying his shoe. "john Viridis?", came a voice from behind him, john continued to re-tie his shoe. "who would like to know?" john asked calmly, the man pulled a black and yellow pokeball out of his pocket. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come with me, I assume you know why", said the man, more a statement than a question, "I would prefer not to make a scene" he finished, almost politely. "shame" responded john, "because that is exactly what you are getting, now!". the man turned round at the sound of pokeballs opening behind him, realising only too late that the kid had left them in the bush when he leaned against it. before he could raise his arm to throw his pokeball, he was bombarded with a purple cloud of gas that was set ablaze just seconds later. he fell unconscious before he even had the chance to scream.

Charlie and Koffing recoiled in shock; they hadn't known the recipient of their attack would be human. Charlie looked up at his trainer, a horrified look in his eyes. john flinched, guilt overcoming him the second Charlie made eye contact. "I… I know it looks bad, but trust me, he will be okay", his attempt to speak softly undermined by the trembling of his voice, "the injuries look worse than they are, and someone will be along to collect him in a few minutes, he'll be at the hospital before we reach the forest". the two nodded, but were not entirely convinced. Charlie looked at the unconscious form of the man, and quickly turned his head away. the boy apologised to them profusely as he collected their pokeballs and returned them inside. john took one last look down at the crumpled form of the man on the ground, then bolted off towards the forest.

as he passed the city gate, a figure ducked behind a tree to avoid his gaze. "knew he'd head this way" she said, smiling to herself. once he was far enough ahead she stood up and ran after him, careful to maintain a healthy distance between the two of them.

* * *

**I might put notes here later ****but, if not, I may also forget to remove this sentence. **


End file.
